Britain Imports No Fuel From Russia For First Time On Record
Prior to the invasion of Ukraine, Russia was the UK’s largest supplier of refined oil, the Office for National Statistics says.
The U.K. imported no fuel from Russia for the first time on record in June as the government achieved its ambition to phase out all purchases of natural gas and oil in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.
Figures, released by the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday, showed fuel imports from Russia, which averaged £499 million a month in the year through February, fell to zero for the first time in data going back to 1997.
Prior to the invasion of Ukraine, Russia was the U.K.’s largest supplier of refined oil, the ONS said. The nation accounted for 24.1% of all imports of that commodity. It also supplied 5.9% of the U.K.’s crude oil imports, and 4.9% of the gas imports.
But “as a result of the U.K. government’s ambition to phase out imports of Russian oil and gas, there were no imports of refined oil, crude oil, gas or coal, coke and briquettes from Russia by June 2022,” the ONS said. “This has prompted importers to seek alternatives. There have been increases in imports of refined oil from Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, Belgium and Kuwait in recent months; partially compensating for reduced imports from Russia.”
Total imports of goods from Russia totaled £33 million in June, down about 97% from the average in the year before the invasion.
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